The purpose of our family blog is to share our life journey with family and friends. Our family consists of Ben and Barbara (married Dec 2002), Caroline (born Sept 2006), Andrew (born Feb 2009) and Dixie (our dog). We hope that you will enjoy following us and all of our adventures and mishaps!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

We took a family picnic to the park on Sunday and enjoyed breathing in the fall air and observing the beautiful fall foliage. Caroline was not feeling her typical bouncy self so we did not get too many photo opportunities of her by herself, but we were able to capture a few good ones of Andrew. We saw a local photographer out at the park taking family portraits and he was kind enough to walk up and ask to take ours (including Gigi) with our camera. I thought the picture he took turned out great and I know Gigi (Ben's mom) loves it! If you haven't already, get out and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. God has blessed us with so much to enjoy in nature that we should not take it for granted.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Caroline really got into dressing up this year. She dressed up not once, not twice but THREE times in TWO different costumes -- neither of which were the costume we had planned! :) Her first dress up opportunity was at preschool. Her school hosted a Costume Parade. Caroline was planning to go as Ariel (her Mermaid costume from her birthday party -- remember that story!), but she changed her mind the day before and decided to go as Snow White (thanks Aunt Anne for the costume!). I must say she did make a beautiful Snow White. The night before the Costume Parade, she and I enjoyed some GIRL time which started with a bubble bath fit for a Princess, followed with a spa pedicure and manicure and ended with a dress rehearsal. What fun!

Our church hosted a Trunk or Treat event the Wednesday before Halloween where Caroline announced she was going to go as Ariel an hour before time to leave for the event (She had planned to go as Snow White earlier in the day). I turned into Super Mom and swung into action to mend the Ariel costume which had gotten ripped during her birthday festivities. I got it all fixed just in time to hear Caroline say she had changed her mind "again" -- She wanted to go asSnow White after all. As I started to pull the Snow White gown over her head, she spotted a pair of Butterfly wings in her dress-up box, and that was it -- she no longer wanted to be Snow White...but instead, she wanted to be none other than, you guessed it, a BUTTERFLY! I decided that it wasn't worth my breath to argue with her. Instead, I decided to make dressing up "fun!," so I started pulling things from her closet and drawers to help us pull off a Butterfly costume-- I hope this isn't a glimpse into our future (an indecisive three year old dressing up is one thing but I hope this doesn't become a pattern).

Andrew wore his Pirate costume from Caroline's birthday party. Of course, it was quite cool once we got to church so he pretty much stayed in his stroller bundled up with a blanket. Luckily, we did manage to get a few pictures before the festivities began.

On Halloween night, Caroline was back in the mood to be Snow White again. We took Andrew over to the Appling's and then Ben and I took Caroline door to door trick or treating. We hit up a few houses in the Appling's neighborhood and then headed over to visit some friends. Their neighborhood proved to be "the" neighborhood for trick or treating (nearly every house was decorated w/ lights and there were kids everywhere, along with golf carts, wagons and trailor pulls w/ kids). We definitely plan to go back next year! All in all Caroline had a GREAT "1st" Trick or Treating experience.